"You should know how high of a level this Workshop is. Even if you are an Edelfelt,”
“No.”
For the briefest instant, a look of faint fear passed over her features. The instant passed, and all that was left was the burning gaze of a challenger facing down her greatest opponent.
“Behold the skill of the Edelfelt family.”
“Luviagelita-”
Before he could stop her, she raised her right hand to her side.
“Call.”
Her beautiful lips whispered.
The sapphire at the tips of her fingers, held like a knight’s salute, began to glow, causing the other jewels to glow along with it. While it gave the impression of lighting the fuse of a bomb, it reminded me of the inside of one of the Royal British Museum’s Cabinets of Curiosity as the brilliant, multi-colored light filled the space around her.
It was a magic circle made of jewels.
As if the activated spell was serving double duty as a barrier of some sort, my master’s extended hand was blown back with a noise like a thunderclap.
Smiling in satisfaction, Luvia whispered again.
“Call.”
The first step was the area around Luvia herself.
The magic circle slowly began to rotate.
The magical energy took the form of a spiral as it span.
From a combination of my master’s explanation after the fact and my own intuitions, it seemed like what Luvia was trying to do was like a puzzle. For example, when given the equation ‘3+4=5’ laid out in matches, and you have to make the equation correct by moving only a single match.
It was taking the original foundational formula underlying the Castle of Separation and, using jewels and her own magical energy, making the smallest possible change that would change the entire formula.
Of course, the scope and complexity of the task weren’t even comparable to that of the match puzzle.
The scope was the entire Castle of Separation, and the magic circles had to be precise enough that not even an ant could slip through unnoticed.
No matter how many jewels she used as boosters, it was like trying to use a fire hose to make a sculpture a few dozen feet in front of you.
But,
“Call. Connect Green 7 to Red 8. Excite Red 10, and circulate to Blue 4. Blue 6, connect with Blue 7, 9, 11, and Red 5, 6, 25 connect with Green and Red 11. Thou shalt be my guide.”
The incantation continued.
The second step was the entire room.
The spiraling magical energy raised its head as if it were a snake.
The jewels already embedded throughout the castle began to respond, and the magical energy suffusing the area began to whirl as if in a dance. Following the movements of the magical energy in the air, the entire Castle began to vibrate, growing to an easily recognizable trembling.
My master looked up at the ceiling.
“…the whole Castle?”
"Whoa whoa, don’t tell me you’re actually going to pull it off?” Even Flue, who had supposedly helped her, gave a whistle in disbelief.
Even to these men, who had already seen countless Mysteries, this was a scene that was hard to accept. Luviagelita Edelfelt’s magecraft was reaching for that impossible place that could only be described in the terms of ‘genius.’
Would she make it?
Orlocke, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes without a word.
“Call grace!”
The third step immediately expanded to cover the entire castle.
Each glowing light expanded to connect to another, and the lights formed themselves into magic circles. Each of these circles continued to expand further, connecting with other circles, growing into ever larger, more complex forms. Without damaging the magic circles that were already present, she was trying to rewrite them with new meanings.
Every time one was completed, the jewels around Luvia gained a rainbow-coloured light. Already, over eighty percent of them had changed colour, and when they had all finished changing, it would likely signify complete control of the Castle falling into Luvia’s hands.
As if the Castle of Separation was accepting its new master, an enormous magic circle span down into the room, approaching Luvia. Even I, who wasn’t a magus, could feel the flood of magical energy inundate the room on my skin.
“It is done!” Luvia’s eyes sparkled with the thrill of victory.
My master, however, groaned with a very different emotion.
“No…this isn’t the kind of reaction you should be getting…”
Case Files I, Chapter 4, Part 3